The Pros and Cons of Outsource Printing Ultimate Guide

As businesses scale, so does the need to produce high-quality print materials—quickly, consistently, and affordably. For many, the question arises: should you manage printing in-house or outsource it? In this post, we explore the ins and outs of outsource printing, its benefits, drawbacks, and when it makes the most sense.

What Is Outsource Printing?

Outsource printing refers to hiring an external vendor to handle your business’s printing needs—whether it’s marketing collateral, sales kits, or internal documents. Companies use outsourced printing services to streamline operations, save on overhead costs, and scale without the burden of managing equipment or inventory.

Top Benefits of Outsourcing Printing Services

Lower Costs & No Equipment Overhead

Outsourcing print eliminates the need to invest in and maintain expensive printers, binders, or finishing equipment. These assets depreciate quickly and require regular servicing, supplies, and staff training to operate efficiently. With a print partner, those burdens are removed—you pay only for what you need, when you need it.

In practice, this enables small businesses and marketing teams to avoid the high upfront cost of building in-house print operations. Whether producing internal reports or customer-facing brochures, outsourcing offers predictable costs and removes the guesswork around equipment planning and resource allocation.

Time-Saving Fulfillment

Outsourced printing streamlines the entire print process—from file submission to doorstep delivery. Leading print providers handle production, collation, packaging, and distribution, allowing your team to focus on higher-value work like strategy, content creation, or campaign analysis.

Companies with lean marketing or operations departments benefit the most. Instead of dedicating internal hours to manually assembling kits or coordinating with shipping providers, those steps are automated and executed by experts—freeing up time without compromising on delivery speed.

Scalability & Flexibility

One of the most powerful advantages of outsourced printing is the ability to scale without friction. Need 200 business cards one week and 20,000 catalogs the next? Print partners are built for that. You’re not locked into minimum order quantities or operational bottlenecks that limit responsiveness.

This flexibility is ideal for businesses with seasonal spikes, rapid growth, or distributed teams. It enables agile responses to market changes, last-minute campaigns, or event-based print needs without adding headcount or equipment.

Consistent Brand Quality

Your print materials are a direct extension of your brand. Inconsistent color, misaligned margins, or poor paper quality can damage customer perception. Professional print providers ensure strict quality control—matching your brand guidelines across every batch, no matter the format or quantity.

For multi-location companies, consistency matters even more. Outsourced solutions ensure that sales materials, packaging, signage, and training manuals remain uniform—whether shipped to New York, London, or Singapore—helping reinforce trust and professionalism across all touchpoints.

Inventory & Mailing Support

Modern print partners go beyond printing—they often provide inventory storage, kitting, and mailing solutions. That means you can warehouse materials, assemble custom kits, and ship on demand, all from one centralized system.

This is especially valuable for businesses running multiple campaigns or targeting various audiences. For example, an HR team can automate the delivery of onboarding kits to new hires, or a marketing team can send personalized catalogs based on region, all without handling a single package.

Challenges of Using an Outsourced Printing Company

Outsourcing print comes with a learning curve, especially for teams accustomed to in-house workflows. However, with the right preparation, these initial challenges can pave the way for greater efficiency, scalability, and brand consistency in the long term.

Less Immediate Control

One of the most common concerns with outsourcing is the perceived loss of control. When print production happens off-site, you’re not able to walk over to a printer, check proofs in real time, or make last-minute tweaks on the fly. This shift requires trust—not just in the vendor’s capabilities, but in your team’s ability to define clear specs and deadlines.

However, this also forces organizations to standardize their processes and documentation—something many teams avoid when everything is handled internally. Outsourcing compels better communication, centralized asset management, and clearer brand guidelines. These improvements benefit not just print, but other marketing and operational channels too.

In practice, most reputable print partners offer digital proofing tools, on-demand support, and shared production dashboards. Once workflows are established, many businesses find that they gain more visibility and predictability—not less—compared to decentralized or ad-hoc in-house printing.

Learning Curve

Transitioning to an outsourced model means adopting new tools and workflows. Your team may need to learn how to upload files to a print portal, define SKUs, or coordinate timelines with an external account manager. This can feel overwhelming at first, especially for small teams or those new to professional print production.

But just like adopting a new CRM or marketing platform, the initial learning curve pays off quickly. Once trained, teams benefit from streamlined workflows, automated fulfillment, and fewer printing errors. Many providers also offer onboarding support and dedicated account managers to guide the transition step by step.

Ultimately, outsourcing turns printing into a managed service—one that reduces internal burden and increases output quality. The early investment in setup and training is modest compared to the long-term gains in efficiency and accuracy.

Vendor Selection Process

Finding the right print partner is crucial—and it takes time. You need to evaluate capabilities, turnaround times, pricing structures, quality control processes, and customer service responsiveness. A rushed or ill-informed vendor choice can lead to delays, cost overruns, or inconsistent brand representation.

That said, the due diligence process is an opportunity to define your organization’s print needs and priorities. It prompts questions like: What turnaround times are realistic? What level of quality do our customers expect? Which materials need to be printed most frequently? These conversations often surface hidden inefficiencies or unmet needs that can then be addressed through the vendor relationship.

Once you’ve selected the right partner, the benefits are substantial. You gain a true extension of your team—one that brings professional-grade print capabilities, logistics support, and ongoing innovation. A strong vendor relationship can actually increase your speed to market and quality assurance far beyond what internal teams alone can provide.

When to Use Outsourcing Print and Mail Services

1. You frequently print high-volume materials
   If your business regularly produces large batches of materials—such as catalogs, employee manuals, or promotional brochures—it may be time to outsource printing. Internal printers often can’t handle high-volume jobs efficiently or consistently.
   
   Example: Siemens’ RFP team opted to outsource print services after internal production became too costly and labor-intensive. With Mimeo as their print outsourcing partner, they cut hard printing costs by up to 50% and improved turnaround times dramatically.
   Read the full case study
2. You need to ship printed items nationwide or globally
   One of the key advantages of printing outsourcing is streamlined logistics. If you’re distributing materials to customers, employees, or retail locations around the world, coordinating this in-house can be both expensive and time-consuming.
   
   Example: Barnes & Conti simplified global delivery by switching to a print outsource solution. Mimeo managed international printing and shipping, freeing up their team from dealing with customs and local print vendors.
   Read the full case study
3. You want to cut costs on equipment and maintenance
   Maintaining printers, copiers, and finishing equipment can drain your budget. By choosing to outsource print services, businesses eliminate these fixed costs and only pay for what they print.
   
   Example: Kindred Healthcare transitioned to a printing outsourcing model and saw a $75,000 annual reduction in hard printing costs. They no longer needed to bulk order or store materials in a warehouse.
   Read the full case study
4. You require brand consistency across multiple locations
   Multi-location businesses often struggle to maintain cohesive branding when each office or store handles its own printing. A printing outsource provider ensures every piece looks identical—no matter where it’s printed.
   
   Example: A global biotech firm used Mimeo’s printing outsourcing platform to centralize access to branded materials. Over 1,100 team members and distributors could instantly print compliant materials anywhere in the world.
   Read the full case study
5. You need on-demand print production integrated into your workflows
   For businesses that require agility, print outsourcing offers scalable, just-in-time production. You can automate printing directly from internal systems—saving time, cutting waste, and reducing errors.
   
   Example: A software company adopted a print outsource workflow through Mimeo’s cloud platform. Training materials and onboarding kits were automatically printed and shipped as soon as new partners signed up.
   Read the full case study

In-House vs. Outsourced Printing Services: A Comparison

Feature	In-House Printing	Outsourced Printing Services
Equipment Costs	High upfront & maintenance	None – vendor absorbs cost
Labor	Internal team	Vendor handles it
Scalability	Limited	High – easy to scale
Consistency & Quality	May vary by location	Uniform across all materials
Turnaround Speed	Dependent on team	Streamlined & fast
Mailing & Fulfillment	Manual effort	Often included

Industries That Benefit from Printing Outsourcing

Many industries rely heavily on the ability to produce accurate, timely, and compliant print materials at scale. As operational demands increase, more organizations choose to outsource printing to reduce overhead, improve consistency, and meet tight deadlines. Here’s how specific sectors are benefiting from print outsourcing in real-world scenarios:

Healthcare

Hospitals and healthcare networks generate thousands of patient letters, appointment reminders, and administrative forms each week. These materials must comply with HIPAA regulations while maintaining speed and accuracy.

For example, Methodist Health System partnered with Taylor Healthcare to implement a comprehensive print outsourcing strategy. They replaced outdated, labor-intensive in-house systems with centralized services that improved print quality, reduced costs, and gave healthcare staff more time to focus on patients.

Finance

Financial institutions need to print and distribute highly regulated documents such as customer statements, tax forms, and disclosures. These materials demand data security, audit trails, and strict compliance.

Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN) provides outsourced printing and compliance services for the financial industry, including the production and distribution of SEC filings and shareholder communications. By centralizing and automating these print workflows, DFIN enables firms to meet strict deadlines, reduce manual errors, and maintain full audit trails for every communication.

Education

Universities, colleges, and training providers depend on reliable print production for course packets, diplomas, event programs, and promotional mailers. Volume surges during key times of year can overwhelm internal teams.

Educational Testing Service (ETS) partnered with Ricoh to consolidate more than 500 printers and introduce document workflow systems. This printing outsourcing approach led to major cost reductions, more sustainable operations, and improved access to materials.

Retail

Retailers constantly produce promotional flyers, coupons, in-store signage, and product launch materials. These items need to reach dozens or hundreds of locations with accurate branding and timely delivery.

Krispy Krunchy Foods, operating over 1,000 locations across the U.S., partnered with Pixus Digital Printing to outsource their seasonal promotional materials. Pixus produced 2,000 promotional graphics packages—including bollard covers, posters, gas pump hose graphics, wobblers, menu graphics, and informational handouts—under a tight deadline. This collaboration ensured consistent branding across all locations and streamlined the distribution process.

Event Planning

Event professionals often manage signage, lanyards, programs, and branded displays under tight timelines. When events scale up, a printing outsource solution ensures quality and delivery coordination.

Republic Services, for instance, worked with Prisma to print and deliver over 275 event materials, including banners and wayfinding signs, ensuring consistent branding across a large-scale corporate event.

These sectors often rely on outsourcing print services to maintain consistency, meet tight deadlines, and stay compliant with data handling protocols.

FAQ: Outsourced Printing Services

Bonus: What You No Longer Need to Manage

When you outsource printing services effectively, you eliminate more than just manual tasks—you remove complexity, hidden costs, and operational inefficiencies. A strategic print outsourcing solution simplifies your workflow and frees up your internal resources for higher-value work. Here’s what you can leave behind:

Overstocked shelves of binders and tabs

With print outsourcing, there’s no need to bulk order and store physical materials “just in case.” You can shift to on-demand printing that only produces what you need, when you need it. This reduces waste, frees up office space, and ensures your materials are always up to date.

Emergency reprints and last-minute shipping runs

When companies don’t outsource print services, they often face a scramble when inventory runs out or timelines change. By using a reliable print outsource partner, last-minute reprints and overnight courier charges become a thing of the past. Outsourced providers have the infrastructure to handle tight turnarounds without compromising quality or brand integrity.

Confusion over file versions and brand consistency

Printing outsourcing centralizes your assets in a digital portal or print dashboard, making it easy to manage templates, version control, and brand guidelines. Everyone—from marketing to HR to regional offices—can access the latest approved files, ensuring consistency across every printed piece.

A patchwork of vendors for documents, swag, and delivery

Before choosing to outsource printing, many businesses rely on a fragmented network of local vendors, each handling a different aspect of production and fulfillment. A single print outsourcing partner consolidates those services—handling printing, storage, kitting, and mailing—all in one place. This not only improves accountability but also reduces admin time spent managing multiple vendor relationships.

By transitioning to a full-service printing outsource model, your organization can operate with more agility, less waste, and far greater confidence in the materials being delivered to your teams and customers.

Final Thoughts

Outsourcing printing isn’t just about saving money—it’s about working smarter. If you need consistent quality, scalable volume, and faster fulfillment, partnering with a print outsourcing company may be your next strategic move.